Spotlight Q & A with Dr. Robert Easter

Dr. Robert Easter served as President of the University of Illinois from 2012 until his retirement in 2015. He served as Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and prior to that as Head of the Department of Animal Sciences.

Dr. Easter joined 2Blades' Sustainability Council in 2020.

Bob on the family farm with pigs in La Pryor, TX.

What motivated you to study and ultimately pursue a career in agriculture and animal sciences? 
My paternal grandparents came to La Pryor, Texas (a small town in southwest Texas) from Missouri in the early 1900s. At the time, it was a great area for vegetable production and plenty of water – they thought it would be paradise. That all changed during my childhood when the water level dropped substantially in southwest Texas. My father knew that it was going to be a lot harder to make a living as a farmer, so he encouraged me to pursue an education.

Growing up, I was very involved in the Future Farmers of America (FFA), so initially I figured I would end up teaching high school agriculture. Yet during my junior year at Texas A&M, I took a class on animal nutrition that focused on metabolism and how what the animal eats gets broken down into energy. I was hooked. Encouraged by a young professor, I chose to remain at Texas A&M after graduation to work in his lab and pursue a master’s degree in animal science and nutrition.

Following my time at Texas A&M, I moved to the University of Illinois to pursue my Ph.D. in Animal Science. I noticed early on that the University of Illinois was very focused on why things happen rather than just what happens. Between their teaching model and my overall enthusiasm for agriculture, it was a good blend for me.

After receiving my doctorate in 1976, I joined the faculty as an assistant professor for swine nutrition and taught undergraduate and graduate courses for 20 years before getting into more of the administrative side of university.

When I think of my career, one other influence was growing up near the US-Mexico border. I was always curious about life and agriculture in Mexico, which led to early opportunities to give talks and presentations in Mexico and Central America that sparked my interest in global agriculture and traveling. Experiences beyond the borders of the U.S. have been life-changing, and I’m grateful for the many opportunities I’ve had and the friendships I’ve formed around the globe throughout my career.

This global perspective also influenced my involvement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Over the course of my career, I’ve worked closely with USAID, particularly through the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD). I was honored to be appointed to BIFAD during the George W. Bush administration and later served as Chair in 2007.

When you reflect on your career, are there specific moments or accomplishments that stand out to you? 
I’m not sure my research had any great breakthroughs, but I had some really good students who, almost without exception, have all gone on to have really good careers. About half of them are in academic positions in the US or abroad, and the other half went into industry. I’m very proud of their contributions and the work that they have been able to do over the years.

Towards the end of my academic research, we got heavy into modelling. One of the last papers to come out of my lab involved what we called dynamic ideal protein. Basically, if you know the requirement for one amino acid all of the others are proportionally related to that. So, if you measure one, namely lysine, you can estimate what the other requirements are. We demonstrated that in lactating sows, the requirements are “dynamic” in that they are changing as the sow progresses through lactation.  

Bob with wife, Cheryl, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne (UIUC) homecoming, 2014

Another important moment was the sequence of events that led me to being President at the University of Illinois. I served on the faculty advisory committee for my department and when our department head was promoted, I somewhat naively accepted the position to be the new department head. I served in this role for five years, and then served as interim Dean and then Dean for nine years. As Dean, I had responsibility over academic programs, extension, and the agricultural experiment station. Although I had no prior ambition to be an administrator, I thoroughly enjoyed the job.

After nine years as Dean, I announced my retirement. At the retirement party, the Chancellor came up to me and informed me that the Provost had been selected as the new President at UC-Davis and asked if I could serve as Interim Provost. I agreed and decided to postpone retirement a bit.  

A couple months later, the Chicago Tribune ran a series of articles detailing an admissions scandal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. By the time the dust settled, several members of the board, the system President and the Urbana-Champaign campus Chancellor had resigned, and I was asked to serve as Interim Chancellor.

Eventually, a new President and Chancellor were hired and I retired (for the second time)! Shortly thereafter, there was another leadership transition, and I was asked again to come back but this time to serve as system President (no interim tag). I agreed to serve as President for 2-3 years until things settled down a bit, ultimately retiring at 67 years old - five years after my first retirement!

I often think about what would have happened and what I could have done if I had retired at 62 rather than at 67 – I think I would have had a lot of fun!  Since serving as President, I have returned to the Ag world and have been involved in a few startups, serving on a few boards (including the Sustainability Council at 2Blades), and doing my best to slow down a bit to do more things with family.

Following up on the previous question, what advice would you give to young scientists just starting out in their career? 
One of the challenges that I’ve seen working with faculty as how they transition from the singular pursuit of getting a degree and getting a job to what happens after they achieve both of those things. Once they get the degree and get the job, they need to adjust their mindset to thinking about purpose. What is their purpose? Why are they being paid to do their work? Why does the public/private sector support you? Why do students pay to attend your class? Spending time thinking through these questions will help guide their actions throughout their career, and eventually they’ll look back and be able to draw a line between their work and the impact they made.

Being a junior faculty member, you’re going to have to work hard. You have to build a team and coach them. You can’t do it all. At some point, you have to realize you’re a leader. Your success is contingent on your team being successful. So, you need to grasp what it means to be a leader –instill motivation, a vision, and help people move forward.

Many of the most significant advancements in agriculture have originated from university labs. How has the approach to research and the pursuit of bold, innovative solutions evolved over the years? 
My sense is that prior to WW2, the research coming from universities was more limited in scope and primarily driven by state-level initiatives.

There was a transition during WW2 when a lot of technologies during the war derived from universities. Radar was significantly advanced at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), for instance. Following the war, it was clear that technologies and new innovations would have a significant role in any future conflicts, at the time particularly the Soviet Union. A commission was established and chaired by MIT Dean of Engineering, Vannevar Bush, to determine how the U.S. government should fund research and new technologies that had a broad, public reach. What emerged was a consensus that universities should focus on fundamental scientific research, with industry taking the lead in translating discoveries into practical applications. This approach led to the creation of the National Science Foundation and eventually other public funding mechanisms, such as the National Institutes of Health.

This was a good model for the defense industry, but it has limitations within agriculture where there is not always a commercial/profit incentive for a company to develop a product or advance a product. As a result, while universities focus on fundamental science there may not be an established entity or organization to support the translational work.

Bob talking to farmers on trip to India

An example is potato wilt or things with cassava. These are incredibly important foodstuffs, but there is no seed market incentive for a commercial partner. Even in corn, for example. There have been incredible improvements in corn because of genomics. But eventually you need breeders who understand how to get this research into the field. It's great to have a gene, but you need to move the gene through a pipeline to get it into commercial varieties for it to make an impact. Universities need to continue to be supported to train scientists who will do translational work.

When I was at the University of Illinois, I hired faculty who could find funding. If there’s limited funding available for translational work, then there isn’t an incentive for faculty to focus on it. Consequently, most of the burden for translational research funding in commercial areas falls on private foundations and outside funders.

I hope that we can update the current model to creative more incentives for scientists to focus on translational research. A model that works for one industry (i.e. defense) may not be as effective in other industries, such as agriculture.

What technology/innovation are you most excited about in the next 5-10 years? 
It’s almost impossible to not say Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its role across agriculture. From the research I’ve seen, efforts to enhance photosynthesis and improve drought resistance using innovative technologies are showing great promise. However, AI stands out for its potential to completely transform our system by analyzing vast amounts of critical data and enabling more informed decision-making.

I’m currently involved in the development of a USDA grant proposal to help farmers optimize their crop management choices by accessing data-driven insights on small acres of a field. For example, there are technologies that can analyze yield data every few feet of a field to reveal how different soil types impact production. This information can guide decisions on what to plant, plant spacing, and plant density, allowing farmers to optimize productivity on each plot of land. As soil types and conditions change across a field, so can crop strategies— potentially revolutionizing the farming experience.

However, this transformation is largely accessible only to well-financed entities, creating a gap in equitable access. Paradigm shifts like these bring immense opportunities while also presenting looming, uncertain challenges.

Bob being interviewed by local radio station at a University of Illinois event

What attracted you to 2Blades and your involvement on its Sustainability Council? 
Having served on the Danforth Plant Science Center Board, I was familiar with the translational work being done by that organization and it reinforced my belief, as I shared earlier, that agriculture needs more translational and applied research. So, when I met 2Blades President, Diana Horvath, I knew 2Blades was working in a space that was interesting and necessary.

I believe there are areas of need that aren’t being addressed by the existing structure and 2Blades does a really good job of connecting the work that is being done at the universities and in research labs with the growers in the field.

What are you reading/listening/watching right now? 
I like to watch history documentaries. I watched one recently about the Dust Bowl by Ken Burns. I also recently finished a book on how the Scots made America that highlighted the school of philosophers in the 1700s who contributed to America’s constitution, economic model, and culture.

What keeps you busy outside of work?
Being retired now, I enjoy staying in contact with people that I’ve worked with over the years. I also really enjoy traveling and witnessing advancements of global agriculture.

The interest in traveling began early on in my career when I was asked to speak at a conference in Mexico. Over the years, I had opportunities to travel all over the world, including to many former Soviet countries, including Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. For nearly 20 years, I collaborated with colleagues to conduct “short courses” on swine production in China. Just last week, I just returned from a trip to Sri Lanka!